 Slow steady gyroscope precession

Model the assembly as a heavy symmetric top with a fixed frictionless support, a uniform gravitational field, and centre of mass on its symmetry axis. Assume constant spin, negligible damping, and initial conditions prepared for uniform precession of a heavy symmetric top. Large spin means the transverse angular momentum from precession is small: $I_1|\Omega |\sin \theta \ll |I_3{\omega }_3|$. Also require $|\Omega |\ll |{\omega }_3|$. A large spin rate alone does not select steady motion after an arbitrary release.

For an original illustrative calculation, stipulateThe transverse principal moments of inertia $I_1,I_2$ are about the pivot, including the parallel axis theorem contribution. These inputs giveThe ratio ${\Omega }_0/{\omega }_3=0.00368$ is small; the more direct angular momentum ratio $I_1{\Omega }_0\sin 60^{\circ }/L_s=0.00358$ is small too. These are model calculations, not experimental results.

Check the approximation against the existing exact uniform precession of a heavy symmetric top condition. Its total angular momentum isAt constant $\theta ,\Omega ,L_s$, differentiating this expression and equating it to the gravitational torque givesFor $L_s>0$ the slow solution can be evaluated without subtracting two nearly equal numbers:It exceeds ${\Omega }_0$ by about $0.208\%$. The other solution is about $177.409rad/s$ and violates the assumed slow precession; the quadratic's two roots must not be conflated. Its discriminant must be nonnegative for these steady solutions to exist.

The original curves hold $I_1,I_3,\theta$ fixed and vary spin and the imposed torque coefficient $K$ in ${\mathbf{\tau }}_O=K\hat{\mathbf{z}}\times \hat{\mathbf{e}}$. For gravity alone, $K=Mgd$; the other curves are hypothetical changes in the transverse torque, not observations of this wheel. Solid curves use the slow quadratic root; dashed curves use $K/(I_3{\omega }_3)$. The second panel displays their relative difference. Increasing spin improves this approximation for the parameters shown. It does not remove nutation caused by inappropriate initial conditions.